WA Governor proves he learned nothing

One might think that one of the few democratic governors left these days might have learned from  the 2016 election that now is not the time to double down on Democratic party big-money causes.

Nope.

Courtesy of Shift WA we learn that Governor Inslee has decided that Olympia is coming up a little short. $8.7 Billion short.

But that's OK, he has a plan...

That graphic neatly summarizes what Shift WA calls Governor Inlee's Lumps of Coal for WA:

1. A lump of Inslee coal in your stocking: A “bold” budget to fund bigger gov’t. A 21% increase...
2. Lump #2 of Inslee coal in your stocking: A new state income tax Proposals for an income tax always play so well here...
3. Lump #3 of Inslee coal in your stocking: A BIG gas/carbon tax We voted down a carbon tax last November. This one was even designed to partially offset our high sales tax. So what does Jay want to do? Of course!
4. Inslee’s Lump of Coal #4: Let’s sock it to small businesses This one is a "Gross Receipts tax", not a tax on profit, so it will literally tax some businesses out of business...
5. Jay’s lump of coal #5: Tax the foreigners (from Canada)! People from out of state are exempt from the state's high sales tax. He wants to end that.which costs businesses business.

(edited to add) RELATED: Washington has what’s the nation’s most regressive state and local tax structure.

This has to be The Onion, right? Right?

Obama's gun control executive order directs Pentagon to make firearms safer, not more lethal - Washington Times

{I}n President Obama’s first foray into small-arms procurement for the armed forces, his Jan. 4 executive order on gun control directs the Pentagon to find ways to make not so much more lethal firearms, but safer ones.

Noting that Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy all expressed personal interest in the Army's issue rifles, Retired Major General Robert Scales told the Washington Times that

“Presidential involvement in small arms has been strategic and game-changing in our history,” said Mr. Scales, a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College. “Obama comes along and tells the Army that, in this administration, money is going into small arms to build — not a deadly weapon, not an effective weapon, not a dominant weapon, not a lifesaving weapon, not a technological cutting-edge weapon — but a weapon that prevents accidental discharge. Give me a break.”

Mr. Obama, who has made reducing gun violence and increasing gun control a top priority, signed a Jan. 4 order that directs the Defense Department, as well as the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, to “Increase research and development efforts.”

A White House fact sheet states: “The Presidential Memorandum directs the departments to conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology that would reduce the frequency of accidental discharge or unauthorized use of firearms, and improve the tracing of lost or stolen guns. Within 90 days, these agencies must prepare a report outlining a research-and-development strategy designed to expedite the real-world deployment of such technology for use in practice.”

 Because "smart gun" technology is obviously of primary interest to the war fighters. 

Actually, a smart gun would be great for a solider -- as long as it was used to automatically calculate range, hold-over, cross-winds, maybe selection of proper ammunition...

I am shocked, SHOCKED!!!

Gov. Inslee halts Bertha work after sinkhole forms near project - Puget Sound Business Journal

After moving less than 200 feet in the past 10 months, the Bertha tunnel boring machine will stop drilling again.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday ordered tunneling work to halt temporarily after a sinkhole formed near the waterfront earlier in the week – the same day digging stopped after a barge carrying dirt tipped over and spilled into Elliott Bay.

Seattle Tunnel Partners will have to find the cause of the sinkhole and prove the contractor can prevent similar incidents in the future before resuming work, Inslee said. Bertha is scheduled to start drilling under the viaduct in March.

“STP will not be allowed to resume tunneling until their analysis and work plans meet the satisfaction of our experts,” Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson said in a statement. “I want to remind everyone that replacing the viaduct is critical to public safety.”

 I predicted at the time this was going to make Boston's Big Dig look like a marvel of efficiency.  (a co-worker from Bahston shrugs and says "Hey, it was only 8 times over budget.")

Looks like I underestimated Seattle's ability to add an element of low farce to municipal incompetence.

UPDATE: Wikipedia is several months behind the news: Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the "Duh" file...

Failures in management led to ObamaCare website woes, investigation finds | Fox News


If I had more time to troll er, peruse news sites, I'd do a "Daily Duh."

Surprise, surprise! (Late post)

Don't know how I forgot this one in my "Drafts" folder.

During my abortive online post-graduate education, we studied Boston's Big Dig. The fact that Seattle is at least as Bolshie as Bahstain, if not quite as corrupt, went a long way to convince me that replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct along Seattle's waterfront with a tunnel was a Bad Idea. (Plus the fact that I have a cursory knowledge of geology and engineering...)

Estimate: No Bertha drilling for a year | Local News | The News Tribune
 Bertha won’t dig until at least March | Local News | The Seattle Times

So, their tunneling machine ran into a pipe that no one knew was there, and got broked. Idiots.

Earworm, 10/17/2013

Lyrics:

1984
Knockin' on your door
Will you let it come?
Will you let it run your life?

1984
Knockin' on your door
Will you let it come?
Will you let it run your life?

Someone will be waiting for you at your door
When you get home tonight
Ah yes, he's gonna tell you darkness gives you much more
Than you get from the light

Classic plastic guards well they're your special friend
He sees you every night
Well he call himself the brother but you know it's no game
You're never out of his sight

1984
Knockin' on your door
Will you let it come?
Will you let it run your life?

It's time you started thinking inside your head
That you should stand up and fight
Oh just where will you be when your freedom is dead
Won't you listen tonight?

Those classic plastic coppers, they are your special friends
They see you every night
Well they call themselves protection but they know it's no game
You're never out of their sight

1984
Knockin' on your door
Will you let it come?
Will you let it run?

1984
Knockin' on your door
Will you let it come?
Will you let it run?

Government Shutdown #'s 1-17

The Washington ComPost takes a look.  And has fun naming them. (Note that a change in the interpretation of The Rules early in the 1980s changed the impact of a failure to produce a budget/appropriations bill/Continuing Resolution.)

Interesting to look at which party was in control of which house at the time...

Interestingly enough, Jimmeh Cahtuh seems to have serious issues.  Ronald Reagan did, too, although from 1981-1990, the shutdowns all seem to have lasted from 24-72 hours...

The longest "shutdown" was the last one previous, under Billy Jeff Clinton, which lasted 25 days, from Dec. 5, 1995 to Jan. 6, 1996.

It may be worth noting that this one caused the White House to bring in a bunch of unpaid interns to fill the positions of laid-off staffers.

Yes, it's true, a government shutdown gave us Monica Lewinsky.

Harry Reid tells the truth!

I'm sure it was bound to happen eventually...

Oh by the way...

and, also oh by the way

Now, honestly, I think a lot of the "sound and the fury" over genetically modified food is greatly exaggerated.  We've been hybridizing critters and plants to make them easier to raise, tastier, and easier to prepare for millenia.  Which doesn't mean that there might not be safety and health concerns.

And while I am all for free enterprise, the concept really doesn't include preferred treatment of protection.  Which democrats are always railing against, but then practicing when they're in office.

Like I just said on Facebook in this specific context, I place no faith in what politicians say, bit that doesn't mean we shouldn't just accept that they're lying hypocritical dirtbags.

UPDATE:  In case you missed it -- and part of the issue is that it was allegedly snuck into the latest in a series of continuing resolutions without the knowledge of most legiscritters -- here is Snopes' write-up of the so-called Monsanto Protection Act.

Looky what I made!

Go ahead and share it on your Facespace, your blog, your Twitter, etc. Attribution would be nice.

He's like Fred Rogers' Evil Twin. Maybe we can get a restraining order to keep him inside New York City limits. He wants your guns, you sugary drinks, your extra large drinks, your salt, your loud music...

Cowards

"One piece of fascist legislation, to go"

Denny Westneat: Dems keep shooting themselves in foot | Local News | The Seattle Times

Is there some gremlin that creeps into the Democrats’ bill-writing room to slip in nutty, unconstitutional clauses?
As it turns out, in a sense, there is. It’s part of an increasingly popular, fast-food-franchise-like practice called “model legislation.” Special-interest groups write up their dream bills and then shop them to statehouses around the country.

Which would explain why almost identical legislation pops up in multiple states.

What leads to this issue, of course, is the recent "assault weapon" ban bill introduced in Olympia, Senate Bill 5737, which has been introduced several times, and each time included a provision calling for home invasions inspections by the county sheriff to make sure you have no unauthorized guns, and what you do have are stored in accordance with whatever nanny-state rules.

The idiots responsible claim they had no idea that provision was there.

So ... why does it keep coming up? Is there some gremlin that creeps into the Democrats’ bill-writing room to slip in nutty, unconstitutional clauses?
As it turns out, in a sense, there is. It’s part of an increasingly popular, fast-food-franchise-like practice called “model legislation.” Special-interest groups write up their dream bills and then shop them to statehouses around the country.
...This police-search provision came from a left-wing version — a model assault-weapons ban written by the Brady Campaign and the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Our bill tracks almost word for word with bills introduced in 2004 in Michigan and a few other states, as well as in 2005 here. At the time, the gun-control group had put out a 73-page guide called “Banning Assault Weapons — A Legal Primer for State and Local Action” in which it offered sample language, including this same police-search provision.

Sheesh.  Can you imagine the uproar if legislation written by the NRA was being debated?

"It's just a shout away..."

Looks like they're not happy in the Empire State...

HB-1588 -- Look what popped up in Olympia

HB 1588 - 2013-14
"Requiring universal background checks for firearms transfers."

 (2)(a) No unlicensed person may sell a firearm to another
7 unlicensed person unless the purchaser has undergone a background check
8 in accordance with the provisions of this subsection (2) and the
9 purchaser is not ineligible to possess a firearm under state or federal
10 law.
11 (b) A seller of a firearm to an unlicensed person shall request a
12 background check of the purchaser or transferee from a dealer or from
13 the chief of police or the sheriff of the jurisdiction in which the
14 seller or the purchaser resides. The background check shall include a
15 check of the national criminal instant background check system.
16 (c) The purchaser must complete an application to transfer a
17 firearm. The application shall be provided to the dealer or the chief
18 of police or sheriff conducting the background check.
19 (d) The department of licensing shall create and make available an
20 application to transfer a firearm for use by unlicensed persons engaged
21 in the sale or purchase of a firearm. The application shall include
22 the information required under RCW 9.41.090 for an application to
23 purchase a pistol from a dealer, and any other information the
24 department of licensing determines is appropriate.
25 (e) A dealer or a chief of police or sheriff who conducts a
26 background check for an unlicensed person under this subsection (2)
27 must indicate on the application whether the purchaser is eligible or
28 ineligible to possess a firearm under state and federal law based on
29 the results of the background check. A dealer or a chief of police or
30 sheriff may charge a fee for conducting the background check in an
31 amount not to exceed twenty dollars, plus any charges imposed by the
32 federal bureau of investigation.
33 (f) A person who sells a firearm to an unlicensed person in
34 violation of this subsection (2) is guilty of a gross misdemeanor
35 punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.
36 (g) For the purposes of this subsection (2), "unlicensed person"
37 means any person who is not licensed as a dealer under this chapter.

Not only are some of the co-sponsors Republicans, at least one of them was rated by the NRA as an "A+"--until now.

Just say "no" to backdoor registration of firearm, and firearm owners. 

As a native of Detroit I find this appalling

See, people still recoil when they learn that I'm from "Murder City", even though many cities had higher murder rates than Motown for most of those years. And, in truth, Detroit has been a rougher town than most, going back to Pontiac's Rebellion, at least.

Still.

Time For That ‘National Conversation’ About Chicago: 11 Shot, Three Dead Today | Jammie Wearing Fools, and Instapundit » Blog Archive » GUN CONTROL ON RAHM EMANUEL’S WATCH: Chicago murders top Afghanistan death toll. (h/t Bill.  Among others.)

And my guns are at fault? Taking my guns away from me will fix violence in a town where everything I own was illegal until recently, and the Powers That Be are fighting every change every inch of th way?

These Windy City types need to keep in mind that, when Al Capone tried to move into Detroit, the Purple Gang ran him out...

Gun Bills in the US Senate, 01/29/2013

Full Text of S. 22: Gun Show Background Check Act of 2013 - GovTrack.us

Full Text of S. 33: Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act of 2013 - GovTrack.us

Fascist pigs.

Feinsteins "Assault Weapon" Bill -- UPDATE

A bill to regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes. (S. 150) - GovTrack.us

Says there:

• Text:  Text not yet available
• Summary:  No summaries available. 

UPDATE:  Via Pistol Forums I have learned that what looks like an early draft version of the bill is up at Senator Feinsteins website.

Status:

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on January 24, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole. 

Progress: Introduced Jan 24, 2013 Referred to Committee Jan 24, 2013 (That's it so far...) Prognosis: 10% chance of getting past committee. 1% chance of being enacted. Only 12% of Senate bills made it past committee and only 2% were enacted in 2011–2013.

Cosponsors:  17 cosponsors (17D)

• Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
• Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
• Cardin, Benjamin [D-MD]
• Carper, Thomas [D-DE]
• Durbin, Richard [D-IL]
• Gillibrand, Kirsten [D-NY]
• Lautenberg, Frank [D-NJ]
• Levin, Carl [D-MI]
• Menéndez, Robert “Bob” [D-NJ]
• Mikulski, Barbara [D-MD]
• Murphy, Christopher [D-CT]
• Reed, John “Jack” [D-RI]
• Rockefeller, John “Jay” [D-WV]
• Schatz, Brian [D-HI]
• Schumer, Charles [D-NY]
• Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA]
• Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]

He's an idiot. Seriously.

Marc Thiessen: Obama alone: This president does not need intel briefers - The Washington Post
Apparently, instead of getting briefed, the Presidential Daily Brief is "delivered" to His Imperial Majesty's quarters in the AM, for him to read. Because he don;t need no stinkin' Subject Matter Experts briefing him, he knows more than they do. Heck, he already knows what's in there without cracking the covers!
According to the article, the last briefing he went to was on the 5^th. Understandably, the brief for the 12^the was canceled so he could visit State Department dependents, but after that he... went campaigning in Vegas.
I knew a lot of really smart people in the Army, NCOs and Officers, and none of them would tell an SME "Skip the briefing, just give me your notes."

Sometimes, they write themselves...

The PJ Tatler » Holder Justice Department Recruits Dwarfs, Schizophrenics, and the ‘Intellectually Disabled’

The PJ Tatler has obtained documents from the Justice Department detailing efforts to recruit attorneys and staff who are dwarfs or who have “psychiatric disabilities” or “severe intellectual disabilities.” On May 31, 2012, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez issued a directive to affirmatively recruit people with these “targeted disabilities.”

This DOJ policy does not merely involve prohibitions against discrimination, but rather the documents reveal deliberate recruitment efforts to hire as attorneys and staff for the Department of Justice people suffering from psychiatric disorders and intellectual disabilities. Moreover, applicants can “self-identify” their disability by means of the “Standard Form 256, Self Identification Disability.”

Those with “targeted disabilities” may be hired through a “non-competitive” appointment. That means they don’t have to endure the regular civil service competition among applicants, but can be plucked from the stack of resumes and hired immediately instead.

According to the documents, those with these “targeted disabilities” may be hired “before the position is advertised” and even “before the position’s closing date.” Moreover, lawyers with psychiatric disabilities and “severe intellectual” disabilities receive a waiver from the requirement that a new DOJ employee have practiced law for one year before being hired.

h/t Bill .

WTF? of the day, 06/23/2012

Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » Obama Asks People Getting Married To Forgo Gifts, Ask Their Guests To Donate To His Campaign Instead…

I heard about it earlier, thought it was a joke.

Kinda like this president...